


Oceans Deep

by grayclouds



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Comedy, Fantasy, Fluff, Freeform, Light-Hearted, M/M, No Angst, Sharkman Zoro, Tumblr Prompt, ZoLu Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 23:24:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11473842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grayclouds/pseuds/grayclouds
Summary: “A mosshead?”Mosshead scowls even deeper. “I drag your sorry ass out of a storm and that’s the first thing you say to me?”





	Oceans Deep

**Author's Note:**

> first entry for zoluweek........................i did it, mom.

Luffy looks out over the horizon of sea before him and wonders what today has in store for him.

“You should stay on land, Luffy,” Nami warns him, her forearms folded on the edge of the pier he sits on together with Usopp, flashes of the scales on her orange-and-pink tail flickering in the water as it sways back and forth. “I have a bad feeling about today; I think there’s a storm coming.” 

“Nami, you worry too much!” Usopp says, both his and Luffy’s legs dangling down into the water with their bare feet making occasional splashes. “We’ll be back before the storm hits—it can’t be that close by, can it?”

“They hit much faster than you think!” Nami says with a scowl, tail breaking through the surface briefly to flick some water his way, Usopp yelping. “Just be back within a few hours, okay?”

“We’ll be fine,” Luffy replies cheerfully, not a care in the world as he toys with the ruby red pendant of his necklace, feeling warm against his fingers.

And why would he have a care? He’s a good swimmer, and luck has always been on his side. Besides, fishing is just about the only fun thing to do on this little island of his, remote and isolated from the rest of the world. Well, that and hanging out with the local merpeople, like Nami.

“Besides, even if he drowns you can just pluck him out of the water!” Usopp adds as he gets up from the pier, grinning widely in unison with Luffy.

Nami looks decidedly unamused. “Just be careful is all I’m saying, I’m not babysitting you two every time you go out fishing!” She huffs. “There’s been rumors about sharks being spotted near here, you know? I don’t want to end up a meal for one of them!”

“Yeah, yeah, we got it,” Usopp replies casually, half-turned around to start walking away. “Honestly, I think the sharks should be more afraid of you than you are of them.” 

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?”

As they begin to launch into a familiar routine of arguing and banter, Luffy lingers at the edge of the pier as he pushes himself up to his feet, wind blowing strangely through his hair.

There’s something in the air today, he can feel it, and whatever it is has his heart beating in excitement.

Storm or no, he can’t wait to see what the day will bring.

* * *

Luffy has always been a better swimmer than he has been a fisherman, but falling off a boat and getting his leg tangled in his fishing net is definitely not what he thought the day would bring earlier that morning.

The water is icy as it submerges him in its currents. He thinks he can hear Usopp’s voice calling for him through the blur of the waves, but it’s impossible to really know with all the noise from the storm thundering above the water. As the wind and the restless currents yank the boat around, Luffy drifts helplessly, unable to get a good hold on the net to free his foot.

Panic spikes through him for the first time when the need for air presses on his throat, his flailing turning frustrated. If he doesn’t find a way to cut himself loose fast, he’ll drown.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, the net then slips off the boat with something heavy tangled in it, likely the box of snacks and drinks they’d brought along with them. It sinks down towards the seafloor and Luffy feels it yank on his ankle, pulling him down with it no matter how hard he’s flailing to reach the surface again.

He can’t even see their boat anymore and his lungs are starting to burn, chest tightening as it hurts for oxygen but he’s only sinking deeper, and it’s getting darker, and colder, and he can’t hold his breath anymore, airways flooding with water as soon as he gasps on reflex, his struggling growing weaker and weaker until—

The last thing Luffy remembers before passing out is something darting around him in the water, and a flash of green.

Then, darkness.

* * *

There’s a sound.

It’s low, kind of like a murmur if it was spoken through a wall of water, and for a moment Luffy thinks he’s still lost to the sea when he realizes he can breathe and the sun is burning on his cheeks, feet in the water as small waves rhythmically wash over his lower legs, up and down again with the tide.

He sucks in a breath and shoots up like a bullet, which is the exact wrong thing to do because as soon as he tries to sit up his head collides with something harsh above him, and whatever was murmuring before shouts a curse now.

“Ow, dammit!”

Luffy groans and collapses back onto the—sand, he’s lying on sand, holding his forehead with a hand and hoping he didn’t just earn himself a bruise with how the pain throbs through his skull. His hand reflexively reaches for his necklace, and when he finds it still secure around his neck he relaxes.

Above him the cursing thing is now grumbling, and Luffy squints against the sunlight to make out something green. It’s a much brighter shade out in daylight than in the depths of the sea.

The green thing shifts above him and as his vision clears up Luffy can finally make out two dark gray eyes in a stormy face, the actual green part of it just being the hair atop the man’s head.

His savior continues to stare at him.

Luffy blinks back slowly.

“A mosshead?”

Mosshead scowls even deeper. “I drag your sorry ass out of a storm and that’s the first thing you say to me?”

Luffy notices the sharp teeth when Mosshead speaks, far sharper than Nami’s. Not to mention as Luffy’s gaze wanders lower he notices Mosshead isn’t wearing any clothes, and when he looks even further down he sees the huge green and white tail where legs should be laying on the sand and touching on the calm tide washing over the beach, matching Mosshead’s... well, mosshead.

“Are you a shark-man?” Luffy asks in amazement, and Moss-shark raises his brows.

“What, did the teeth give it away?” he mocks, slapping his huge tail down into an incoming wave and creating a splash, drops of it landing on Luffy’s face—it’s definitely bigger and stronger looking than Nami’s, whose tail is slender and much prettier in comparison.

So cool!

“You’re taking this very calmly,” Moss-shark says, watching Luffy stare at his tail. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll eat you?”

Luffy shakes his head. “If you wanted to eat me you wouldn’t have dragged me out of the water.”

“True enough,” Moss-shark replies with a grin, putting his rows of teeth on display.

_So cool!_

“Thanks for saving me, by the way!”

Moss-shark pushes himself away from Luffy to sit-up, leaning back on his hands as he stares out over the sea. “You’re lucky I happened to be in the area.”

“I’ve never seen a shark-man before,” Luffy says as he sits up as well beside him, curiously looking over the skin of his tail—it looks very different from Nami’s colorful scales. “Don’t you guys live further south?”

Moss-shark glares at him from the corner of his eyes, tensing up. “I live where I want.”

Silence stretches between them.

“You got lost, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t get lost!” Moss-shark yells as Luffy starts laughing. “I was just taking a detour, that’s all!”

“I like you, Idiot-shark!” Luffy declares brightly. “What’s your name?”

“My name is Roronoa Zoro,” Idiot-shark snaps. “And at least I didn’t nearly drown in my own fishing net, so who’s really the idiot here?” 

Luffy grins mischievously, taking the insult in stride. “I’m Monkey D. Luffy!”

“Great.” Zoro looks back towards the sea again. “Well, this was weird. I’m gonna go now, so—”

“But you just got here!” Luffy protests. “You could at least stay for a while before getting lost again!”

“I told you, I didn’t get lost!”

Luffy scrambles up to his feet, ignoring Zoro’s protest. “Come on, I’ll introduce you to my friends!”

Zoro frowns at him, twisting to flop onto his belly with his elbows buried in the wet sand. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed,” he starts slowly, tail swinging up behind him, “but I don’t have any legs.”

Luffy tilts his head. “You can’t grow them?”

There’s another silence.

“What?”

“Nami can!” Luffy replies at Zoro’s bewildered look. “Nami is a mermaid and she can turn her tail into legs and walk on land whenever she wants, but she always turns back as soon as she gets wet.”

“That’s nice, but I have no idea how to do that,” Zoro responds bluntly. “So, like I said, I should just—”

“Then Nami can teach you!” Luffy insists. “Just follow me from the water!”

And before Zoro can throw out another protest, Luffy dashes off, hearing loud cursing and yelling behind him followed seconds later by a loud splash that brings a huge smile to his face.

It’s not every day that he makes a new friend, especially one as cool as Zoro—he can hardly wait to show him off to the others, sprinting across the beach, kicking up sand as he goes as if he didn’t almost drown just a few scant minutes ago.

When he looks to his left toward the sea and wonders if Zoro is still following him, something breaks through the waves and into the air in a magnificent arc, Luffy’s eyes going wide in awe as he watches Zoro dive down again and disappear underwater. Far away on the horizon behind him are the last of the storm clouds dispersing underneath the sun, beams of sunlight scattered over the surface of the water.

He breaches again and Luffy’s eyes flit to the muscles on his torso, and while his breaching isn’t even half as graceful as Nami’s, it reaches higher and seems much more powerful.

Laughter slips from his mouth, bright and loud, and when Zoro breaches a third time Luffy waves at him with both arms stretched high.

“Zoro!” he yells at the top of his lungs, drawing a glance. “That’s super cool!”

He thinks he sees a smile but Zoro disappears too quickly beneath the waves for him to be sure. Even so he continues running with a new spring in his step, noting belatedly that his precious straw hat is secure on his back, wind blowing through his hair and drying the wetness by the time he spots the pier in the distance.

Luffy can just about make out Usopp bringing their fishing boat in, screaming something at Nami who is swimming around the boat. As he approaches, the words become clearer—beside him in the water, Zoro has stopped breaching, but if Luffy looks close enough he can see his dorsal fin sticking out.

“He was behind me when I turned around but when I looked over my shoulder he was gone!” Luffy can hear Usopp yelling. “Oh my god, what if he drowned, NAMI, WHAT DO WE DO, WHAT IF LUFFY DROWNED AND HE SUNK TO THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN, OH MY GOD NAMI WHAT IF HE GOT EATEN BY SHARKS—”

“Calm down, Usopp!” Nami yells back at him as Usopp collapses onto his knees on the pier after having tied the boat, bawling. “I’ll go look for him, alright? He’s-he’s a great swimmer, I’m sure he made it to shore!”

Luffy watches Zoro’s fin disappear underwater again, and looks at his distressed friends who seem so caught up by the idea of him having drowned to death that they don’t even see him approaching.

“GARP IS GOING TO  _KILL_ ME!” Usopp cries, sinking to his knees with his hands in his hair. “AND I DESERVE IT!”

Zoro, swimming faster than that Luffy can run, pops up at the other side of the pier, hanging onto the edge with his elbows. “For your information,” he starts loudly, inducing two horrified screams, Usopp falling off the pier into his boat and Nami diving under. “Hey! Listen to people when they’re talking, don’t swim off!”

“Guys, it’s okay!” Luffy calls as he finally makes it to the pier, and Usopp scrambles up to his feet, swaying in the boat with a slack-jawed look on his face.

“LUFFY?”

Nami’s head appears several dozen feet away from the pier, eyes squinting before widening in surprise. “Luffy!”

Grinning with delight, Luffy runs up the pier and notices he has lost his sandals, the wood slapping against his bare feet. “Zoro won’t eat you, he’s my friend!”

“OH THANK GOD, I THOUGHT YOU—wait, wait, wait, he’s your what?” Usopp shrieks, eyeing Zoro warily, gaze darting to the dorsal fin on his back. “Luffy, he’s a sh-sh-sh-shark! Ha-half a shark! A shark-man!”

“I know, isn’t he cool?” Luffy says, eyes glimmering. “He saved me from drowning!”

Usopp slowly climbs out of the boat, glancing down nervously at Zoro, who stares back impassively.

“As I was saying,” Zoro continues, “I don’t eat humans; they taste bad.”

“H-h-how do you know w-w-what humans t-t-ta-taste like?”

Zoro grins widely, revealing the sharp teeth, Usopp letting out a squeak and diving behind Luffy who laughs heartily. Nami approaches the side of the pier opposite to Zoro, pulling herself up out of the water and sitting down at the edge next to the boat, brushing back her long hair.

“He’s just messing with you, Usopp,” she says, looking less afraid now that Luffy has introduced Zoro. “Though I guess now I know where all those rumors about sharks being sighted near here came from. What are you doing this far up north?”

“Zoro got lost!”

Luffy twists out of the way of the spray of water Zoro chucks at him with his tail, using Usopp as a shield while laughing cheerfully—Usopp, not so much.

“For the last time, I didn’t get lost!”

“Oh, great,” Nami sighs as Usopp wipes the water off his face with his bandana, glowering at Luffy. “You’ve found another idiot to complete your triangle of idiots.”

Zoro and Usopp turn to her in unison with indignant looks. “Hey!”

“By the way, Nami,” Luffy interrupts as he places his straw hat back on top of his head again after rubbing all the sand out of his hair, thinking it’s probably about time for a bath. “Can you teach Zoro how to walk on land?”

 Nami tilts her head in thought, looking at Zoro. “You don’t know?”

“What, about turning into a human?” Zoro replies dryly. “Not until just now, no.”

“That’s because it can only happen on this island,” Nami informs him, as well as the rest of them considering Luffy sure didn’t know about that part. “I don’t know how to explain it, but there’s a magic on this island that allows it.”

She holds out her hand expectantly, and Usopp and Luffy exchange confused glances before Nami gets impatient. “Well? Hurry up and get me a towel and some clothes!”

“Oh, hold on, I’ll do it!” Luffy says, running off towards the old abandoned little house right next to the pier that used to be a fishing shop, until the owner passed away several years ago. Now it’s used as a storage house for the local fishermen—plenty of blankets and towels there, not to mention they keep some clothes for Nami for whenever she wants to come on land.

He returns with his arms full of towels and clothes and Nami pulls her long, slender tail out of the water, the way orange scales fade into pink the closer they get to her caudal fins fully visible. She takes a large towel and starts drying herself, wrapping it around her, and when she does her tail lights up gold so glaringly bright they all turn away from it.

By the time the light has faded, the only thing sticking out from under the towel she has tied around her chest are two very human legs.

Usopp gives her a hand as she stands up, but she doesn’t wobble nearly as much as she used to when she first did it. Usopp even has the decency, or rather, the self-awareness to turn away as Nami slips her panties on under the towel.

Luffy, on the other hand, just points at her legs, Zoro staring at them in shock. “See, I told you!”

After having pulled on her long beach dress Nami flings her towel at Luffy’s head.

“Don’t just point at people, idiot!”

Zoro pokes at her big toe. “Huh, it’s real.”

Nami slams her heel onto his hand, Zoro biting down a curse. “Don’t randomly touch people either, second idiot!”

Luffy laughs loudly at their antics, tossing the wet towel to the side without a care; Zoro is fitting in perfectly already. “Come on, Zoro, now you try it!”

Zoro narrows his eyes at him, resting his chin behind his forearms on the edge of the pier, the tide calmed around him, water swaying gently. “I don’t even know how to walk.”

“Then we’ll teach you,” Nami says, a mischievous smirk uncurling on her face. “For a price!”

“Price?” Zoro repeats warily. “What price?”

“Hmm, how about… yes, let’s make it ten-thousand pearls!”

Zoro sputters. “Ten-thousand? Do you have any idea how long that would take?”

“No?” Nami tilts her head in thought. “Alright then, how about my weight in Aztec gold?”

“Where the hell am I supposed to find that much Aztec gold?”

“Are you calling me fat?”

“What? No! I’m just saying—”

“Fine then!” Nami huffs dismayed, crossing her arms. “My final price is Captain Flint’s long-lost treasure, take it or leave it!”

“ARE YOU INSANE?”

“We’ll do it for free!” Luffy interrupts after having had his fill of laughing at the pair. “It’s only right, since Zoro did save my life.”

Nami looks like she very much wants to protest, but at Luffy’s determined gaze gives up with a sigh. “Fine, this one is pro bono.”

“Wait!” Luffy calls out just as Zoro opens his mouth to answer. “I do have one condition.”

Nami and Zoro glance each other, the latter prompting, “What?”

Luffy grins widely. “Can I ride you?”

There’s a moment of complete silence, broken seconds later by the eruption of loud laughter while Zoro scowls in confusion, eyeing Luffy warily.

“What the hell is that even supposed to mean?”

“You know, when you do the breaching thing!” Luffy explains, gesturing widely with his hands to mimic the big arc he saw Zoro make.

“Seriously?” Zoro tilts his head slightly, appearing a tad bit annoyed (or contemplative? Luffy can’t really tell) before his look dims to something more akin to resignation, sinking back down to the edge of the pier. “Alright, I’ll take you for a swim later.”

Luffy does a fist pump. “Yes!”

“So how does this work?” Zoro asks all three of them, appearing more curious than he does reluctant. “I just get out the water and dry off?”

“That’s the gist of it,” Nami answers, pulling her hair up in a bun with an elastic band Usopp handed her.

“Alright then, this should be interesting.” Zoro shifts his hands and lays them down flat on the pier, and with a single pull hoists himself out the water. “Let’s see what happens.”

Both Luffy and Usopp watch with thinly-veiled awe as the full length of Zoro’s tail comes into view, even Nami—as proud as she is of her own tail—looking faintly impressed.

“Why would you want to trade that for legs?” Usopp wonders out loud. 

“Never had legs before,” Zoro replies with a shrug as he takes one of the towels offered by Luffy. “Might as well experience it at least once.”

Luffy, Nami and Usopp watch with anticipation as Zoro begins to dry himself off, though he has some trouble reaching the very end of his tail. Luffy takes the towel from him with a smile and helps dry off the caudal fins, receiving a weird look in turn, though Zoro doesn’t seem to be bothered by it—confused, maybe, but not bothered.

“Feel anything yet?” Nami asks lightly.

“Not really.” Zoro stares down at his tail skeptically. “Just—”

Whatever he was about to say is cut off when bright green light envelopes his tail and dorsal fin, Luffy and Usopp too busy gawking as Nami quickly rips the towel out of Luffy’s hands and throws it on top of Zoro who is frozen on the spot.

They watch the huge tail and fin slowly shrink and disappear, the light shaping into two legs poking out from under the towel laying where the shark tail was just moments ago. Where there was wet-smooth, hardy skin there is now the bareness of human flesh, frailer and softer.

Luffy hums as he prods at Zoro’s kneecap, who jerks in surprise but seems otherwise fine being touched. He looks lost more than anything else, as if he has no idea what to do now that he went and got himself a pair of legs, and Luffy can’t help but giggle at the cluelessness. It’s endearing.

“Well?” Nami says when Zoro just keeps staring at the pair of golden bronzed legs, shaking his head lightly.

“This feels weird.”

He lifts both legs, then puts them down again, lifts his right leg, lifts his left leg, wiggles his toes, starts twisting his feet around, seeming caught between being uncomfortable and fascinated.

“This feels really weird,” Zoro amends as he starts testing out his knees, bending both legs carefully, not even having noticed yet that his razor-sharp teeth are gone, replaced with human ones. “And what’s with this thing between my legs—”

He pulls the towel off his hips and Nami shrieks, having been coming and going on the island for so long that she has accustomed herself to the taboo on public nudity, quickly turning away. Luffy, on the other hand, just bursts into laughter and Usopp turns bright red.

“T-t-that’s, uh.” Usopp clears his throat, eyes darting around in every direction except for where Zoro has unwittingly put himself on display. “That would be your, um, dick and balls.”

Zoro looks up at Usopp uncomprehendingly. “My what?”

“Your reproductive organs!” Nami snaps, back still turned. “Now hurry up and put some clothes on!”

“Wait, wait, wait—yours just hang around?” Zoro questions Usopp and Luffy incredulously. “The whole time?”

“Yep, you get used to it!” Luffy chirps brightly, looking supremely unconcerned with the nudity and even giving Zoro a tentative once-over. “Huh.”

Zoro scowls at him, pulling his knees together. “What?”

“Definitely bigger than Usopp’s.”

Usopp somehow turns even redder as he smacks Luffy on the head, Nami making a disgusted noise behind them. “Sh-sh-sh-shut up!”

“Just get him dressed already!” Nami huffs, foot tapping impatiently against the wood.

Luffy quickly jumps to the task of picking out something for Zoro to wear from the pile of clothes and towels he got from the storage cabin before, though leaving it to him was probably a bad idea since his sense of fashion is entirely non-existent.

Ah well, so long as Zoro’s not naked, it should be fine!

“Here!” Luffy presents him with a simple pair of briefs, which are normal enough, and one of what kind of looks like Nami’s long beach dresses, which is definitely not as normal but Usopp is starting to laugh so Luffy assumes he made the right decision.

Zoro eyes the briefs warily. “Do I have to wear it?”

“YES!” Nami yells insistently.

“Ugh, fine, give me that—”

It goes more smoothly than Luffy expected, though Zoro does look hilarious flopping around on the pier in an attempt to get the briefs on, looking thoroughly dismayed once they fit around his hips.

“This is terrible,” Zoro decides, glaring down at the plain gray briefs. “Clothes are terrible.”

“Now put this on!” Luffy urges him, not even waiting for a response as he undoes the blue sash on the brown dress, which turns out to be more of a robe as he helps—shoves—Zoro’s arms through the sleeves.

Zoro ties the sash himself, looking finally presentable in polite society, glowering at the sleeves of his robe as if they had personally affronted him by their very existence, before turning his glare at the shoes Usopp offers him.

“No,” he snaps. “None of those… whatever they are!”

“Are you three numbskulls finally done?” Nami says, peeking over her shoulder and seeing that Zoro is finally dressed deigns to rejoin them, eyeing Zoro’s robe critically. “Where’d you find that, Luffy?”

“Hmm?” Luffy glances at Zoro’s robe. “In the storage room; there’s a whole bunch of them! Why?”

“It looks ancient.”

Now that she mentions it, the thing does eye a bit dusty, and it’s true Luffy never sees anyone but the oldest geezers in town amble around in those robes, but it’ll have to do. With how much Zoro hated the briefs, Luffy doubts anyone can convince him to put on pants on top of that.

“Whatever, I put your stupid clothes on,” Zoro interrupts gruffly. “Now how do I walk?”

“First, you need to stand up.” Nami puts her hands on her hips, giving him an assessing look. “Can you manage that?”

“Ha!” Zoro scoffs. “You just watch—”

He propels himself up with such force that he tips to the side and immediately falls off the pier.

“ZORO, YOU IDIOT!”

Luffy laughs so loudly his stomach starts aching, Usopp beside him crying tears as he hangs onto Luffy’s shoulder while Nami screams in the background.

Five minutes, one ripped robe, another wet towel and a second set of clothes later, Zoro is finally standing on his feet, holding onto Luffy’s shoulders for balance and scowling at his legs as if he can glare them into doing what he wants.

“See, it’s easy!” Luffy encourages brightly, his own hands lightly curled around Zoro’s wrist who gives him a glance that’s too quick for him to decipher, but his expression eases slightly so Luffy figures Zoro is having at least some measure of fun.

Meanwhile Nami, the bridge of her nose pinched between her fingers, continues where they left off, trying to ignore Usopp who is still snickering in the background. “Alright, now, try taking a step forward—Luffy, move with him.”

“Okay!”

Zoro makes a difficult face, carefully sliding his right foot forward as Luffy puts his left one back to make space. Luffy watches the wrinkle between his brows, drawn to the look of concentration in sea-dark eyes as Zoro manages to shift his weight around, a bit wobbly but not a spectacular failure like his first try.

“You got it!” Luffy cheers him on, taking another step back as Zoro now moves his left foot, grip tightening briefly around Luffy’s shoulders.

“Just be careful you don’t walk off the pier,” Nami remarks sardonically from behind them, watching their progress with Usopp who kind of looks impressed now that his laughter has died away.

“Nothing to it,” Zoro declares, meeting Luffy’s eyes with a grin, taking another step, this time lifting his foot off the ground and reaching further faster. He lurches forward for a moment, gravity pulling on his balance and making him wobble until Luffy’s hands drop from his wrists down to his waist, steadying him.

When their gazes cross again, faces a little bit closer now than they were moments ago, Luffy feels something build in the pit of his chest. It’s not quite a flutter but a rumble, something deeper down and louder, and he knows at once that while Zoro will be—is—a friend, it’s different from what he has with Nami and Usopp.

There’s a something, oceans deep, waiting to be carried to the surface.

Zoro stares back at him with a smile flitting over his lips and Luffy knows that he feels it too, before the smile widens into a smirk and Zoro’s steps become more confident, quicker, bigger—

Luffy follows, takes a step too far over the edge of the pier and falls off.

Zoro falls off with him.

Nami’s shrieks are heard across the island and Usopp nearly dies.

As Luffy resurfaces with Nami’s screams in one ear and Usopp’s breathless laughter in the other, he turns to Zoro with a grin as big as the sun, returned to him with sharp teeth and dark eyes glinting like treasures on the ocean floor.

Today has been a good day.

* * *

“You promised!” Luffy whines through the sweltering heat, upper body hanging off the side of the pier, his hair dipped in the water in an effort to remain cool. Probably not his greatest plan ever, considering the blood rushing to his head.

The day is bright and the sun is merciless, though the humans are far more bothered by it than the two fishmen, Nami lazily drifting on her back in the water and Zoro still practicing his walking up and down the pier, being able to manage it unassisted with just a week’s practice. He can break into a run, too, though he tends to have trouble coming to a stop—usually he just ends up falling flat on his face.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zoro waves him off, frowningly deeply as he tries to figure out a walk that doesn’t look like he has no idea what a walk is supposed to look like. “What the hell do I do with my arms?”

“Just keep them to your sides,” Usopp mumbles from the boat, drifting along with the currents.

“Come on, Zoro!” Luffy whines, pulling himself up and briefly experiencing vertigo as the blood all rushes downwards again. “It’s hot and I want to swim!”

“Then go swim,” Zoro replies bluntly, still focused on his feet.

“But I want to swim with you!”

Nami makes a noise, humming at the exclamation, and Usopp whistles, trying to tease them. Luffy ignores both completely as he looks stubbornly at Zoro, who has paused in his walking and is finally looking at him now with considering eyes.

Something darts across his face, there and gone again, before he sighs and finally relents.

“Alright, fine.”

“Awesome!” Luffy springs up, tossing his hat to Usopp—or rather, straight onto Usopp’s face, who is grateful for the shade—and kicking off his sandals with a burst of energy, as if he hadn’t been melting away in the heat just moments ago.

Usopp sniffs from underneath Luffy’s hat, bemoaning, “I want a ride too.”

“I don’t care!” Zoro undoes the sash of his robe with a moody scowl, letting it fall to the ground and yanking off his briefs as well. “Just one ride, got it, Luffy?”

Luffy nods heavily. “Mhm, just one ride!”

Zoro stares at his face, wholly unconvinced. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”

“You won’t!” Luffy promises. “Now let’s go!”

With a huff and a grumble, Zoro inches to the edge of the pier, bends his knees, and launches himself into the air.

Ending up with a horrible belly-flop into the water.

“Still can’t dive, huh?” Nami mutters, drowned out by Luffy’s guffaws and then Zoro’s angry shouting when he comes up for air, razor teeth and all.

“I totally meant to do that!” he yells at Luffy, who’s holding his stomach with both hands.

“Z-Zoro, you looked s-so stupid!” Luffy chokes out, too busy wiping the tears from his eyes to notice the approaching danger as Zoro drifts back towards the pier.

“I’ll show you stupid!”

Before Luffy realizes it Zoro shoots up with a powerful stroke of his large tail, grabbing him by his vest and yanking him down into the sea, Luffy nearly choking on the water as he sputters and flails and breaks through the surface again, eyes stinging for a different reason now.

Zoro looks back at him with a smug grin. “Now who’s the stupid one?”

“Not fair!” Luffy yells, splashing him with some water, Zoro appearing entirely unperturbed. “That was a sneak attack!”

“Still got you.”

While he can’t argue the effectiveness, Luffy nonetheless puffs his cheeks in dismay and Zoro grins at him, looking mighty pleased with himself until Luffy swims around him and nearly strangles him by wrapping his arms around Zoro’s neck.

“Swim!”

Zoro elbows him in the ear. “You’re holding on too tight, idiot!”

“I don’t wanna fall off when you breach!”

“What does that matter?” Zoro mocks as he propels himself forward with one big swing of his tail, Luffy’s knees awkwardly hitting the back of it as he’s draped over the right half of Zoro’s back to avoid squishing the dorsal fin on his back—if it’s even possible to squish a dorsal fin. “We’re in the sea, it won’t hurt unless you land on your face.” 

“You mean like the belly-flop you just did?” Luffy remarks innocently.

“Shut up, I did that on purpose!”

“Zoro, you’re really—”

The rest of Luffy’s sentence is cut off abruptly when Zoro dives under and Luffy almost chokes on the water flooding his mouth, eyes stinging and squeezing shut as he’s dragged under.

For one terrifying moment he’s reminded of the storm, of not being able to see anything, of having no sense of up or down, of the ache gradually throbbing in his chest, his lungs, spreading into his throat and how cold it was, so cold.

The only thing keeping him from panicking is his grip around Zoro’s neck and shoulders, and thankfully the dive doesn’t last that long. Within moments they resurface again and Luffy snaps his eyes open to the sunlight, coughing and gasping for breath.

“Hey, you okay?” Zoro sounds different. He has a hand on Luffy’s wrist and his voice is quiet. “Sorry, that was a bad prank.”

Luffy breathes in deep through his mouth, rubbing one eye out with his palm as he leans his forehead against the back of Zoro’s neck, heart still pounding.

“Luffy?”

After a moment of silence while they drift over the surface, Luffy starts to laugh.

“Phew, that was scary!” he says cheerily. “I almost let go!”

Zoro’s tail swishes agitatedly beneath them and Luffy feels the force against his bare feet. “That’s not funny.” 

“It’s alright,” Luffy assures him, shifting to rest his chin on Zoro’s shoulder. “You would’ve saved me anyway, like you did last time.”

“You seem awfully certain of that.”

Luffy blinks, tilting his head slightly. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Let’s see,” Zoro starts sarcastically, “you’re in the middle of the ocean, your friends are way out of earshot, and did I mention that you’re all alone with a shark?” 

He says this as if Luffy should understand what he’s getting at, but Luffy genuinely doesn’t. He peers toward the shore where the pier is no bigger than his thumb, and the only thing that comes to mind is how impressive it is that they’re already this far away—Zoro is really fast!

“I don’t get why that matters,” Luffy answers as the drift even farther from the beach and the pier. “I’m plenty safe with you around.”

There’s a brief lull in the conversation as Luffy admires the sunlight sparking off the water and the small waves Zoro creates as he propels them through it like it’s nothing but air.

“Idiot,” Luffy hears Zoro mutter. “Who feels safe around a shark?”

“Well, I don’t know much about sharks,” Luffy answers, even though he knows Zoro didn’t mean for him to answer that at all, “but I know about you, and you’re not just a shark. You’re Zoro.”

Zoro doesn’t reply to that and Luffy can’t look at his face to see what he’s thinking from his position on Zoro’s back. It’s not in him to worry about crossing boundaries, but that doesn’t mean his words were equally without care; what he says may often be blunt, but it’s never thoughtless.

He hopes Zoro knows that.

"I'm going under," Zoro says, not replying to Luffy's words. "Keep your eyes open."

"Okay!"

Zoro snorts as Luffy takes a deep breath and as soon as he holds it, Zoro goes under.

His eyes sting but he keeps them open, resisting the urge to close them because he knows he'll slip into that nightmare again, and maybe that's why Zoro told him to hold his eyes open but then he  _sees_ it.

Schools of fish in depths of blue that dart away as soon as they sense their approach while Zoro propels them further and further down with inhuman speed that's making it hard to keep his eyes open and focused, and it's not as if Luffy has never dived before but he's never dived this far off the coast and the seafloor is breath-takingly beautiful.

There are coral reefs popping in every color imaginable, the center of life for all the different shades and shapes of fish that swim around it like moths to a flame, and Luffy wishes they could get closer but he knows Zoro's hovering at the edge of this small world is done with purpose. He wonders if Zoro wishes that he could get closer, too.

Luffy watches a large turtle traverse the reef, at which point he feels the need for air pressing on him and he taps on Zoro's shoulder. Strange how he didn't experience even the slightest sense of discomfort just now when the last time was so terrible. Keeping his eyes open really helped.

With a single twist Zoro smoothly flips them around to face the thin sheen of light that still reaches these depths, making all the colors shine, and with another large swing of his tail shoots them toward the surface.

Luffy wonders briefly why they keep gaining speed and whether Zoro is hurrying up on his account, until he realizes—

They burst through the water and the cold air hitting his face makes Luffy gasp more in surprise than needing to breathe, everything light and blue and white and he glimpses the horizon for just a moment, floating in air before his vision shifts again and they dive back down into the water.

He closes his eyes as they go under, arms tightening around Zoro's neck but within seconds they're up for air again, drifting above the surface.

"That," Luffy breathes, trying to catch himself but failing utterly, "that was  _AWESOME_!"

Zoro laughs, and it's not a mocking one. It's loud and sharp and abrupt, as if he didn't mean to but couldn't stop himself, but it's weightless and sincere and Luffy likes the sound of it.

"Again, again!" Luffy urges him, tugging at his hair, and Zoro's laugh stops just as suddenly as it started.

"No way!" Zoro shakes his head. "You're too heavy, heavier than I expected, anyway—where's that scrawny little ass of yours hiding all that weight?"

"In my stomach," Luffy responds bluntly. "Come on, please, Zoro,  _please_?"

It takes Zoro only three seconds to give in. "Fine, but just one more time, you hear?"

They end up doing it three more times before Zoro starts actually getting tired of it and Luffy decides pushing him any further would be taking advantage, but how badly he wishes to go again, to be able to do that whenever he wanted to, to be so utterly  _free_.

"You're a real handful, you know that?" Zoro says as he swims them back to the pier, and Luffy has to admit his arms have been getting a bit tired as well even as he has been insisting to repeat the little excursion tomorrow morning. "I don't get why you're so fixated on it—it's just diving into the water, like you do off a pier."

"No it's not," Luffy insists. "It's way different."

Zoro snorts. "Enlighten me."

"You can do it wherever you want, whenever you want." Luffy leans his chin on Zoro's shoulder again, watching the shore in the distance steadily draw closer. "It's like you're flying, you know?"

"So you just like the feeling?" Zoro surmises.

"Yeah, but," Luffy starts, pausing for a moment to try and pinpoint why it was that he wanted to do this so badly, and the image of seeing Zoro first breach flashes through his mind. "But it's also because I saw you do it."

Zoro hums, sounding confused. "What does that have to do with it?"

"It's because you're really cool, Zoro!"

Luffy feels the muscles underneath his arms tense up, and Zoro doesn't say anything for a while, which makes Luffy wonder if he said something bad, though he dismisses that thought almost instantly. Something must be bothering Zoro a lot; whenever Luffy compliments him, he just seems to freeze up a bit.

"You're really something," Zoro says, and Luffy can't tell from his muttering whether that's a bad thing or a good thing, so he opts to take it as a good thing.

"So are you," he responds cheekily. "We make quite a pair, huh?"

Whether Zoro was planning to answer or not, it's at that moment that Nami, sitting at the edge of the pier with a cooled bottle of something in her hand, notices them arrive and waves them over.

"Hey, Luffy, your grandfather was looking for you!"

Luffy's mood dips considerably as he lets go of Zoro and swims over to the pier, hoisting himself up with shaky arms. "Did he say why?"

"Nope," Usopp calls from his spot on the boat, not having moved an inch. "He sounded really serious, though."

Put off by the sudden development, Luffy shrugs off his shirt and wrings the water out of it with a scowl, glancing over at Zoro and managing a smile. "Seems I gotta run—see you tomorrow?"

Zoro lets out a sigh that trails off into a lopsided smirk. "Guess so."

Luffy's smile brightens, saying goodbye to his other two friends before leaving the pier.

It lingers on his face all the way home.

* * *

By the time Luffy arrives home the sun has already set, the cool evening wind making him shiver as he hurries to get inside, his way lit by lanters hanging off porches, attracting moths and flies like small, glowing beehives. He opens the door and slips inside, hoping he didn't take too long or he'll have another scolding waiting for him.

He finds his grandfather sitting silently in his chair in the living room of their modest house, one of many in this small, isolated village.

Luffy closes the front door behind him, kicking his sandals off. "Hey gramps, Nami said you wanted to talk to me?"

Despite the fact that he's dripping water all over the floors as he walks inside, Garp remains quiet, the back of his chair turned towards Luffy.

Whatever this is, it isn't good.

"Sit down."

It's not said with any sort of suppressed rage that usually accompanies a command like that, often the result of Luffy having done something to break the rules again, but rather something much more grim.

Luffy, unnerved by the unexpected mood he's found Garp in, pads over to the couch opposite to him without protest and sits down obediently.

He stares at his grandfather's inscrutably stern expression, meeting his unwavering gaze, and starts feeling sweat beading on his forehead.

"W-what's this about?"

The seconds seem to stretch into a full minute of staring as Luffy's sweating intensifies and Garp remains completely silent, until finally he says,

"You're almost eighteen."

Luffy has no idea what that has to do with anything, but it must be serious. "Yeah, so?"

Garp doesn't reply immediately, continuing to stare and Luffy's face starts turning red.

"Could you just tell me what the hell is going on?" he errupts, throwing his hands up in the air. So he's turning eighteen in two weeks, it's not like he cares about birthdays, and becoming an adult in the eyes of the law matters even less considering he does whatever he wants anyway.

Unless this is about—

Garp finally opens his mouth, and panicked, Luffy yells, "I''m not getting married!"

A pause.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Garp asks, bewildered, but Luffy knows better than to fall for that. Oh, he's had enough teasing from the older women in the village to let his guard down.

"I don't care how cute she is, I'm not getting married, you hear me?" Luffy insists with a scowl. "Never EVER!"

"That's not what I—" Garp trails off abruptly. " _WHAT?"_

"I don't want a wife!"

"What the hell do you mean, you don't want a wife?" Garp yells, eyes all but bulging out of their sockets. "WHO ELSE IS GOING TO GIVE ME GREAT-GRANDKIDS, YOU BRAT?"

"Ask Ace!" Luffy retorts petulantly, crossing his arms and knowing full well that before his older brother left the island at eighteen, he'd laughed in Garp's face at the mere suggestion. "I'm not doing it!"

"You..." Garp's entire head looks like it's burning up scarlet, but instead of exploding even further as Luffy is used to, he instead takes a deep breath and composes himself again, slinking back into his chair. "That's not what I wanted to talk about."

A long moment passes as the words slowly sink in, and Luffy blinks, then frowns in confusion. "Huh?"

"It has nothing to do with marriage," Garp responds irritably. "Listen to people before jumping to conclusions on your own, you little punk."

Luffy breathes a sigh of relief and deflates on the couch, feeling like he just dodged a bullet, though he's fully aware that  _that_ conversation has been shelved and not forgotten. "So, what is it?"

Garp settles back down into his silent sternness and Luffy eyes him suspiciously, deciding to wait since he has no idea what else this could be about.

Eventually, his grandfather glances down at the necklace hanging off Luffy's neck and says, "You've never taken that thing off, have you?"

Luffy's fingers instinctively reach to grasp at the ruby pendant, shaking his head. His grandfather had told him ever since he was very little—no older than three or four at most—that it was important that he keep the necklace on no matter what. Normally Luffy wouldn't have listened, but considering the fact that Garp stressed he would actually die if he took it off and Ace also wore one, taking it seriously, he decided not to tempt fate.

"Good, good." Garp seems distant for a moment as he stares at it, and Luffy is starting to become impatient until Garp finally continues. "The truth is, I've been lying to you about that necklace for the past fourteen years."

Luffy stares at him.

"You're not going to die if you take it off."

Luffy continues to stare.

"The only thing that's going to happen is that if you take it off before your eighteenth birthday, you'll turn into a merman and you'll never be able to walk on land again. That's why I had you keep it on. It's alright if you take it off after your birthday, though."

Luffy stares even more.

"That's all I wanted to say." Garp gets up from his chair and leaves to his bedroom, turning the lights of the living room off and leaving Luffy in the dark. "Good night."

Luffy stares at the empty chair in front of him.

And stares.

And stares.

And stares, until—

" _WHAT THE HELL?"_

* * *

Usopp is in awe when Luffy tells him all about it at the crack of dawn the next day, waiting for Zoro to arrive. Nami is absent, as she usually tends to show up later in the morning.

Luffy might have been more excited about the prospect if the surprise of it hadn't been predicated on a huge lie. Of course he understands why Garp did it—never being able to walk on land again sounds awful—but that doesn't mean he's not pissed at the deception.

"Still, isn't this great?" Usopp enthuses, before his smile turns into somewhat of a smirk and he's suggestively elbowing Luffy in the side. "This means that once you turn eighteen you can swim with Zoro whenever you want!"

Luffy pauses; he hadn't thought of that yet.

"What's this about swimming?"

His heart flutters in the depth of his chest at Zoro's voice, neck and back stiffening. It's an involuntary reaction, entirely unexpected as he glances at Zoro who is hanging off the edge of the pier with a smirk, having just arrived with neither him nor Usopp noticing.

"Oh, Zoro," Usopp greets him brightly as Luffy stays silent, still caught off-guard by that strange spike in his heartbeat and starting to feel unusually warm. "You're not gonna believe this!"

As Usopp starts rattling off about what Garp said yesterday Luffy starts to zone out, too distracted by the strange reactions of his body. He can't seem to hold Zoro's gaze for longer than a few seconds before feeling cornered; for some reason his presence today feels overbearing.

He frowns as he thinks it over.

Overbearing? No, that's not it. Zoro's the same as he's always been in the short time Luffy has known him.

From the corner of his eyes he sees Zoro's expression change as Usopp talks, glancing at the widening of his eyes and the smallest parting between slackening lips.

Luffy is just  _too_ aware of him.

"Are you serious?" Zoro turns to Luffy, finds him suddenly squatting right in front of him with their faces inches apart, glaring him right in the eyes, and nearly falls off the pier. "W-what the—don't just sneak up on people like that!"

"You!" Luffy demands, scowling fiercely.

Zoro frowns back. "Me?"

A tense silence passes, Luffy taking a deep breath through his nostrils.

"Stop being so—" He chokes on the sentence, having no idea what word to use, feeling even more pressured with Zoro's dark eyes fixed on his face. "So... so..."

"So what?"

"Stop being so you!"

Zoro's brows arch to his hairline before dropping down again into a scowl. "The hell does that mean?"

"You know!" Luffy says, gesturing widely with his hands while he feels his face starting to burn. "So... so  _you_!"

"I don't know what that means!" Zoro glances at Usopp, who just shrugs, looking just as lost. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

"It's distracting!" Luffy complains angrily. "Stop doing it!"

"How am I supposed to stop being me, idiot?"

"I don't know, act like Nami!"

Before Zoro can retort Usopp interrupts. "What, exactly, is so distracting?"

Luffy pauses and turns towards Usopp who, from the gleam in his eyes looks like he has figured something out. Either way, it's kind of a hard question to answer.

In his peripheral vision he sees Zoro rest his chin in his hand. He has strong hands. Luffy has known this since the day they met because he still remembers the grip underneath his arms as he was pulled from the currents, barely awake, and yet reexamining this knowledge now makes him tense up even more.

"Argh!" Luffy grips the edge of his hat, pulling it down over his eyes, aggravated.

"Do you think he might be sick?" he hears Zoro mutter, the low tone of his voice cutting in its clarity because Luffy is so focused on it.

"Oh, I think he's definitely caught something," Usopp replies slyly, but doesn't get a chance to elaborate as Luffy interrupts.

"It just is, alright!" he yells, feeling fed up. "It's really distracting, all because of his stupid face and his stupid hands and his stupid voice—"

"Okay, seriously," Zoro cuts in, starting to sound seriously annoyed. "What did I do aside from exist?"

Usopp steps in-between them then, looking rather smug, eyed warily by both. "So, Luffy, about you swimming with Zoro..." He trails off, watching Luffy carefully who, without being able to help it, feels his cheeks starting to burn and his heart starting to race.

He drops down and hangs over the pier, setting his hat aside as he dunks his head into the cold seawater. It helps cool him for a moment, but when he pulls his head out again he realizes he's right next to Zoro who meets his gaze, the gray in his eyes glinting sharply in the sunlight, reflected back into Luffy's brown ones and for one very strange, unsettling moment it's like they're the only thing he can see.

"AGH!"

He dunks his head in a second time.

"As I thought," he hears Usopp's voice, dimmed by the water. "He really is sick."

Luffy yanks his head out of the water again. "What?"

"You're sick!" Usopp tells him, looking far too happy about it. "Don't worry, everyone gets this sickness at least once in their lives and it's not lethal—in most cases, anyway."

"Well?" Zoro snaps impatiently as Luffy starts to pale. "Don't be coy about it!"

"Did you feel your heart beating weirdly today, Luffy?"

Luffy's jaw drops. "How did you know that?"

"Ha!" Usopp laughs loudly. "I'm the great doctor Usopp, didn't you know? I've cured over one million people with just my bare hands and a single roll of bandages—"

Zoro's tail splashes in the water, the spray hitting Usopp right in the face.

"Point taken." He clears his throat, turning to Luffy with a suddenly rather grave expression, grabbing him by both shoulders. "Luffy, I'm sorry to tell you this, but..."

Luffy swallows thickly. "But?"

"You are..." Usopp takes a deep breath, and breathes out slowly. "You are falling in love."

There's a silence.

And then Zoro is all but strangling Usopp, holding him by the front of his overalls and shaking him wildly. "This isn't the time to be making stupid jokes like that, you moron, I thought there was actually something wrong with him!"

"I-I-I'm being totally s-s-serious, Zoro!" Usopp cries, trying to defend himself.

Luffy stares blankly at the two of them as Zoro continues to yell at Usopp, the words echoing through his head. Falling in love? Him? He never thought about it; it was one of those bridges he'd cross if he ever got there, a faint possibility in the back of his mind he never paid attention to.

It still doesn't sound particularly appealing as a concept, as something that just happens to people in general, but when he thinks about him falling in love  _with Zoro_ —well, the pounding in his chest and the blood rushing to his face says enough, but there's something else.

His lips seem to almost move on their own or as if they were pulled by some sort of alien force, stretching wide into a smile as that restlessness in his stomach shifts and turns into something brighter, warmer.

So that's what it feels like.

"Zoro!"

Both Usopp and Zoro pause in their bickering, turning to look at him with twin expressions of surprise at the change in Luffy's tone, only deepening at the smile on his face.

"What is it?" Zoro asks after a slight pause, looking almost hesitant as he releases Usopp, full attention on Luffy again and now that he knows what this is, the tension that was frighteningly unknown before feels good—it feels like giddiness.

He's not just nervous anymore, he's  _excited_.

Grinning wide, Luffy meets Zoro's eyes in the sunlight and asks, "Will you swim with me?"

* * *

They haven't talked about it yet.

Zoro's fingers are wrapped tightly around both his hands, facing him as he pulls Luffy down further towards the seafloor who's doing his best to hold his breath. There's a bag tied around Zoro's wrist, holding all sorts of shiny little things that Luffy made him pick up when they went on a small treasure hunt, though most of it consists of funny looking rocks or pretty seashells.

At this depth Zoro's hair and tail aren't as green as they are above water, Luffy notices, though it still stands out a little—definitely moss. His eyes look completely black, the sun shining above them through the water too dim to light the silver and gray.

"Stay here, I'll be right back," Zoro says, letting go of his hands and darting away, the force of it shifting the water around Luffy and making him flail, like being blown over by a fierce gust of wind.

He drifts aimlessly for a moment before managing to get himself upright instead of facing down towards the seafloor at least, and while being left alone to float like this might have made most people uncomfortable at best Luffy hasn't the slightest worry. Zoro said he'd be back, after all.

Luffy tries peering towards the direction Zoro left, not being able to see much through the vast blue at first until he spots something moving in the distance, something very large.

Straight towards him.

All he can do with his movements sluggish in the water is put his arms up in front of his face, expecting a collision with a whale or something similar, but instead feels the water pressure shift around him, things flitting around his body, touching on his arms and legs.

Opening his eyes he'd squeezed shut out of reflex, Luffy looks around him and almost gasps.

There are so many of them it almost looks like he's caught in the middle of a small tornado, a school of silver-scaled fish circling around him, glimmering in the light and surrounding him in their flurry just for a moment.

As quickly as they came they're gone again, leaving Luffy behind in an awestruck daze, twisting around in the water and trying to see where they fled to. He's running out of air now, lifting a hand to his throat and wondering briefly where Zoro is as he gives up the search.

Out of nowhere two arms wrap around his waist from behind him—as if he heard Luffy's thoughts Zoro carries him back to the surface, holding him close.

They break through the water and Luffy sucks in a deep breath, only to immediately waste it by shouting, "That was amazing!"

He realizes belatedly Zoro's arms are still around him, his back pressed against Zoro's chest, and his stomach does a flip when he feels Zoro sigh against his neck.

"Satisfied?"

Luffy finds himself very quiet, not something that happens often, but the thought he tried to dismiss before returns in full force.

They still haven't talked about it.

Zoro didn't ask and Luffy didn't tell. It's as if what Usopp said went completely ignored, but it wasn't brushed off, not really. While it helped Luffy figure out what was going on, it seems Zoro already knew all along.

It was a little like telling them the sky is blue, in a way. But that doesn't mean Luffy doesn't have any questions.

"I'm taking you back to the pier," Zoro announces dryly, yanking at the bag tied around his wrist. "You've got enough seashells to last you a lifetime."

Luffy doesn't protest as he's pulled through the calm water, facing a cloudless blue sky just as endless as the sea, the sun shining bright again today.

"Hey Zoro."

"Hmm?" 

"Have you ever been in love?"

There's a choking sound and Luffy tries to turn his head to look at Zoro, an unfortunate ripple on the surface launching water right up his nose and making him cough.

"Hey, don't drown yourself," Zoro cautions him, one arm still firm around his waist. "And no, I've, uh, never been in love before."

Luffy wipes the snot off his face, perking up with keen interest. "Before?"

All he gets in return is silence which, he thinks with a smile that's starting to hurt his cheeks, is an answer on its own.

* * *

"Okay." Luffy decides, sitting on the beach underneath a large parasol next to Nami, enjoying a cold drink in a colorful bikini. "I think it's time you meet gramps."

Zoro, struggling with his new legs on the sand in front of them, slips and falls down again. "Wha—what?"

"Don't you think that's a little early?" Nami says, having been supremely unsurprised at Usopp telling her about Luffy and Zoro. "I mean, you guys haven't even been on a proper date yet—unless you want to count swimming together."

Both Luffy and Zoro stare at her, heads tilting in unison.

"Date?" Zoro questions.

"Oh, oh, does that mean food?" Luffy enthuses when it occurs to him. "Like, a dinner, right? A dinner date?"

Nami rolls her eyes, sipping from her soda. "Yes, Luffy, a dinner date."

"Zoro, let's go on a date!" Luffy exclaims, getting up from the sand and grabbing his sandals. He was actually planning on swimming today since he hasn't been out in the water for about three days now, Zoro wanting to practice walking and running on land instead, but a dinner date sounds just as good.

"What, right now?"

"Yeah, you can just come over to my place and I'll cook us something!"

Zoro looks rather wary of the idea. "What about your grandfather?"

"He's at work," Luffy dismisses. "So, are we going or what? Come on, Zoro!"

"You are  _so_ going to get caught," Nami murmurs, looking disinclined to move.

Zoro glances from her to Luffy, but seeing that he hasn't been able to say no to anything Luffy has asked of him so far, the trend continues as he concedes, allowing Luffy to help him get off the sand by holding his hand.

Luffy is all but buzzing with energy, and though he isn't the greatest cook he knows how to cook meat if nothing else. They have a grill, so it should be simple enough.

"Hey," Zoro says as they walk up the dusty road leading from the beach towards the town, steps awkward while still getting used to the boots on his feet. "Your hand is sweaty, let go."

Luffy blinks, reluctantly releasing his grip and looking at his palm. Huh, it really is sweaty; he got so worked up over the date that he didn't even notice. "But—"

Zoro casually throws an arm over Luffy's shoulders, pulling him against his side. It would've been very suave if the sudden shift in balance hadn't made him stumble a step and nearly fall over were it not for Luffy supporting him, cheeks tinting pink and a drop of sweat rolling down the side of his face.

Luffy will take what he can get, though, curling his own arm around Zoro's back and snickering openly. "You're so clumsy."

"Sh-shut up."

"Don't trip over a rock or something, okay?"

"Shut up!"

* * *

"Do you really know what you're doing?" Zoro asks for the fourth time as he watches Luffy drop every bit of meat he could find in his house on the grill, including whole fish.

They're both in the backyard, Zoro sitting at the round little table where Garp usually has his morning coffee before setting out to work. He was rather fascinated by the fire of the grill a moment ago, but that was before Luffy enthusiastically started fanning it and it nearly burned his brows off.

Now he's seated a safe distance away, leaving the work of preparing dinner to Luffy.

"It's fine!" Luffy reassures him, mouth already watering as the scent of grilled meat floods his nostrils. There's lamb, chicken, beef, fish, some mushrooms and vegetables on the side—he hopes gramps won't be too angry at Luffy using his homemade barbecue sauce, but ah well.

"How much food do you even eat?" Zoro questions at the whole bowl of raw foods sitting on the table, waiting their turn on the grill. "And you can't eat it raw, huh? What a pain."

"I'd eat it raw if I could!"

Zoro gives him an amused if exasperated look. "I bet you would at that."

With the sun glaring as it settles down toward the horizon and the smoke and heat from the grill, Luffy has to wipe the sweat off his forehead every now and again with a cloth, turning the meat as Zoro waits.

"How far off is your birthday?"

He glances at Zoro, who has taken to toying around with a knife Luffy set on the table earlier, testing out its sharpness against his thumb.

"You shouldn't—"

Zoro flinches in surprise when the edge breaks through skin, glancing at the small cut that wells up with blood with an offended look. "This knife is a lot sharper than I thought," he mumbles. "And this skin is stupidly soft." 

"Well yeah, you're not a shark-man right now," Luffy replies, turning towards the door. "Watch the fire, I'll get you a band-aid."

"A what?"

When Luffy returns from the kitchen with a small band-aid, Zoro is no less confused. "It's for your cut!"

Zoro shows him his thumb, red mark still there, but no longer welling up. "It already stopped bleeding."

Luffy being Luffy he doesn't listen, pulling a chair to sit next to Zoro and grabbing his hand, pulling the backing off the band-aid and wrapping it carefully around Zoro's thumb.

"Better?"

Zoro frowns at the bandage, flexing his thumb critically. "It still stings, and this band-aid thing is annoying."

Luffy considers this for a moment, then grabs Zoro's hand and pulls it up to his face, pressing his lips on Zoro's thumb—Makino used to do it all the time when Luffy got hurt playing, and it always made him feel better.

Zoro, however, screams and yanks his hand away. "What _the hell_  are you doing?"

"What?" Luffy frowns, bewildered.

"Are you trying to eat my thumb or something, you weirdo?"

Luffy squints for a long moment, until it finally occurs to him. "Zoro, don't you... don't you know what a kiss is?" From Zoro's blank stare, he assumes not—Luffy can't help himself, he starts laughing. "You're so dumb!"

"W-what? Shut up!"

"You thought I was trying to eat your  _thumb_?" Luffy cackles, remembering the panicked scream and laughs even harder, clutching breathlessly at his stomach. "Idiot! You're such an idiot!"

Zoro, face burning red, slams his hands on the table. "I said shut up! I'm not a human, how am I supposed to know what humans do?"

Properly embarrassed, the conversation lulls there as Luffy continues to chuckle to himself while he tends to the grilled meat, filling their plates with it until they both have small stacks of meat on top of meat and some vegetables.

"Hey, hey, what's this smell?" a voice calls from over the white, wooden picket-fence, and Luffy turns to find Usopp leaning against it. "Grilling, huh?"

"Yo, Usopp!" Luffy greets him. "Zoro and I are on a date!"

Usopp's jaw drops and eyes bulge. "Y-you're having a date  _at home_?"

"Yeah, why?" Zoro asks suspiciously, and Usopp starts wildly shaking his head.

"N-nothing, it's f-f-fine!"

It's at that point that Luffy finally finishes grilling the last bit of meat as Zoro glares Usopp down who starts looking increasingly uncomfortable with his interruption.

"Finally!" Luffy barely holds back from salivating as he sits down across from Zoro who's eyeing a grilled fish on his large plate skeptically—meanwhile, Luffy already has a drumstick in his mouth. "What are you waiting for? Dig in! Usopp, you want some too?"

"Oh, uh, no thanks." 

"I'm not used to food being cooked," Zoro replies blandly, grabbing the fish by the lower end with his bare hand. "Guess I'll give it a try."

"Oy," Luffy calls, munching on his drumstick in the corner of his mouth. "You're supposed to use a knife and fork, you uncultured swine."

"YOU'RE EATING CHICKEN WITH YOUR BARE HANDS!"

"CHICKEN IS DIFFERENT!"

Zoro glares at him, before conceding and grabbing the knife he cut himself on earlier, wiping it clean with a napkin.

And then he starts stabbing his fish.

"Zoro, what are you doing?" Usopp asks nervously.

"Using my knife," Zoro states darkly, glancing Usopp's way who shrieks and hides behind the fence, inducing a loud laugh from Zoro.

"You fool, that's not how you use it!" Luffy protests, snatching his knife out of his hand. "You're supposed to use your fork to stab the food!"

Zoro turns contemplative. "Then what's the knife for?"

Luffy shrugs. "Stabbing people?" he proposes, shoving half a steak into his mouth as Zoro nods sagely.

"Makes sense."

"You're both morons," Usopp sighs from the fence. "Though I guess that just means you're made for each other. I'm gonna head on home, have fun on your weird date—and don't stab anyone!"

He departs and leaves them to eat, and while Zoro struggles with the fish he seems to take a liking to the chicken, lamb and steak. Luffy finished much earlier than him, of course, starting to get impatient with how slow Zoro's eating and kicking at his legs under the table.

"Zoro," he whines, silenced temporarily when Zoro tosses a chicken-wing his way. 

"So," Zoro says, chewing on a mushroom with the right side of his mouth, "what's this kiss thing about?"

Luffy glances up from his chicken-wing, the meat already completely cleaned off the bone, not having expected Zoro to return to that subject. "Whaddaya mean?"

"What's it for?" Zoro clarifies.

"Mmm, well... it's like, um..." Luffy briefly trails off. It's actually pretty hard to explain. "It's like, when I was a kid and I got a scrape on my knee, auntie Makino always used to kiss it."

"So it helps against pain?"

"No," Luffy says, shaking his head. "But it made me feel better."

Zoro still looks confused. "If it doesn't help against pain, how does it make you feel better?"

"Because it's a thing you only do when you care about someone."

Zoro hums, thinking it over while swallowing down his food. "I've never seen you kiss Nami or Usopp, though."

"That's different!" Luffy answers, maybe a bit louder and hastier than what was necessary. "It's different when you get older. They're my friends but we're not  _that_ kind of close."

"That kind of close?"

"You know." Luffy's eyes flit away from Zoro, drifting everywhere but to his face. "I don't take them on dates."

Zoro keeps looking at him, Luffy feels his stare even though he doesn't meet it. The sun has touched onto the horizon by now and the sky is blooming with pink and yellow in the distance, crickets chirping at the settling dusk as it fades into evening.

He doesn't like being this hesitant, he doesn't like it one bit.

"Can I kiss you?"

The words come out before he can stop himself, or even think of stopping himself. His eyes snap back to Zoro, who is caught entirely off-guard.

"What?"

"Can I kiss you?" Luffy repeats. "Since you're someone I care about."

Zoro continues to stare for a moment, before his expression breaks into a faint smile and he leans back into his chair. "I don't see why not; you already did once."

Luffy grins. "Yeah, and you thought I was  _eating your thumb_."

"Would you shut up about that already?"

He gets up from his chair, walking around the table to the one next to Zoro's, his heartbeat speeding up with every step. By the time he has settled down, turned sideways to face Zoro his heart is pounding, but it's an excited pounding, one of anticipation almost like adrenaline.

Zoro watches him for a moment before turning sideways to face him as well, unlike Luffy who feels like he's about ready to burst appearing utterly relaxed as he drapes his arm over the back of his chair.

"Well?" he prompts.

"Come closer," Luffy replies playfully, and Zoro obliges, leaning towards him.

"Close enough?" he asks, a few inches left between them.

"Closer," Luffy insists.

Zoro huffs a laugh that Luffy feels brush over his lips and he freezes up, like electricity leaving him paralyzed as Zoro leans in even closer, but still not close enough. "Is this—"

Luffy grips the front of his robe and yanks, the small gap between them disappearing into lips and teeth that meet awkwardly, and Zoro almost recoils from the initial collision with a surprised noise but stays where Luffy wants him to be.

It's clumsy and Luffy has no idea what he's doing, going on feeling as that's all he knows. It starts very small, a peck to Zoro's lips who, after a moment returns it curiously, like prodding and being prodded back. What matters is that it feels good, and it  _does_ feel good, it feels good and exciting and somehow not enough but too much all at the same time.

Their small kisses start to meld together, and he doesn't know when it happened but Zoro is clutching at his shoulders while Luffy's hands are in his hair, like they're keeping each other anchored.

But like everything that Luffy does it's selfish and greedy and demanding, foregoing air to kiss Zoro more, his tongue slips out of his mouth to touch on Zoro's lips and that makes him jerk back suddenly, breaking the kiss.

"What was that?" he asks, slightly out of breath, a soft flush underneath tan skin, barely visible in the increasing dark as he stares at Luffy with wide eyes.

"My tongue." Luffy's hands drop away from Zoro's hair to his neck, curled around the back of it. "It felt good, right?"

Zoro frowns slightly. "What, were you trying to stick your tongue in my mouth?"

"Yeah."

"Huh?" Zoro gives him an incredulous look. "Why? Isn't kissing just with the lips?"

"Yes, Luffy," an all-too familiar voice says, making him stiffen on the spot as he finally notices the presence looming in the doorway leading back to the kitchen. "Why  _were_ you trying to stick your tongue in this man's mouth?"

Sweat breaking out on his back and the back of his neck, Luffy looks at Zoro, pale as a sheet while trying not to glance at his murderous grandfather. "We need to run."

Zoro scowls, glancing from Garp to Luffy. "I take it that's your grandfather?"

"Don't worry, son," Garp says, voice deceptively calm, "we'll have plenty of time to get to know each other—once you're in jail, that is."

Knuckles crack.

Luffy bolts from his seat, grabbing Zoro's wrist and yanking him out of the chair just in time to avoid Garp's punch. "Run, jump over the fence!"

Zoro reacts quickly enough but nearly falls right on his face as they jump over the fence, Luffy pulling him upright and keeping him running as Garp follows them, right on his heels.

" _LUFFY!"_

"Why's he so pissed off?" Zoro yells, glancing back over his shoulder and paling at Garp's expression, starting to run faster.

"Just keep running or he'll kill us both!" Luffy yells back, holding Zoro's hand tightly in his own, sweaty palm be damned.

"COME BACK HERE YOU LITTLE PUNKS!"

"We need to get to the beach!" Luffy says. "Don't let go of my—"

Sweaty palm be damned, he thought, but it's exactly because of his sweaty palm that Zoro's hand slips from his grip, and though thankfully Zoro doesn't trip, they do slow down enough for Garp to catch up, lunging at them both.

"Turn left!" Luffy calls and Zoro doesn't hesitate, turning the corner into a sidestreet while Luffy goes the opposite direction. Between him and Zoro, Garp predictably decides to follow after Luffy. At least that's something.

"Think you can outrun me?" Garp screams, starting to close the distance again.

Luffy strains his muscles to keep running, face turning red. "I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Bringing some delinquent to my house, using my grill, feeding him my food, shoving your tongue down his throat AT  _MY TABLE_ —"

"Zoro's not a delinquent!" Luffy yells over his shoulder, thankfully the beach already in sight, the pier right in front of him.

But even if he jumps into the water and tries to swim away, Garp will likely catch him anyways—if Luffy is a good swimmer, Garp is an excellent one. There's not much he can do, except for...

"Just give it up, Luffy!" Garp sounds triumphant. "Even in the water I'll outswim you."

Luffy scowls, and grabs at his necklace as he runs down the pier with Garp right on his heels. "We'll see about that."

"What are you—"

At the very edge of the pier, Luffy jumps off and snaps the necklace off his neck with a grin, throwing it at Garp's feet as he falls into the water.

" _YOU IDIOT_!"

It's a very strange, almost unpleasant feeling. His legs shift, like something is pulling at them, sticking together and becoming something very different. He hears his jeans rip, and suddenly it feels like instead of two legs he has only one very big, very long one.

He glances down at himself as he floats in the water, gasping when he sees brilliant red and white stripes on smooth skin stretched over a long tail, with similarly striped, long fins stretching out wide like fans at either side of his tail, his caudal fin larger and wider. He can even feel something on his back, reaching with his hands for what must be dorsal spines, long and separated. He even has webbing between his fingers now.

"Woah," he breathes, then realizes he can actually breathe and talk underwater now, and up top his grandfather is still screaming.

He decides to test out his tail, and it comes naturally to him, no differently than moving his legs though he uses more force than necessary and nearly launches himself out the water. Seems like his tail is as strong as it is beautiful.

Luffy reaches up to the edge of the pier, pulling himself up and leaning over with his arms while staring at his red-faces grandfather with a huge grin. "Still think you can outswim me, gramps?"

"YOU FOOL!" Garp screams at him, and he hears footsteps coming down the pier—Zoro.

"Luffy?" he calls, glancing at Garp once to make sure the chase is over before coming to stand next to him and looking down at him, his eyes widening. "You... you took off your necklace?"

"Yup," Luffy announces cheerily, right before Garp's boot meets his face and kicks him off the pier into the water.

"DIDN'T I WARN YOU?" Garp screams as Luffy drifts onto his back on the surface of the water, holding his nose. "DIDN'T I TELL YOU NOT TO TAKE IT OFF?"

"Gramps—"

"NOW YOU CAN NEVER COME ON LAND AGAIN!"

"Gramps!"

Garp glares down at him, looking very upset, but stops his shouting just long enough for Luffy to say, "My birthday was two days ago."

Silence.

" _WHAT?!"_

Zoro bursts out laughing beside Garp as he starts screaming again, Luffy smiling cheekily as he  dives underwater and out of sight before Garp can get the idea to actually try swimming after him.

"YOU LITTLE SHIT! YOU NEARLY GAVE ME A STROKE!" Garp shrieks, turning to Zoro. "AND  _YOU_ —"

Zoro ducks, avoiding Garp's hand by an inch and lunges into the water after Luffy.

" _YOU BRATS!"_

Luffy smirks mischievously as he swims away from the pier, Zoro transforming back and shedding his clothes before swimming after him, passing him by.

It feels exhilarating, like he was always meant to be here, like this was his home all along. Not the confines of a small, isolated island, but the vastness of the ocean where there are no borders, no one to tell you where you can and can't go. 

Ahead of him in the water Zoro twists to face him, eyes trailing down his tail and his fins.

Luffy grins proudly as he floats upright in the water. "It looks super cool, right?" 

"It looks as loud as you are," Zoro snorts, giving him a lopsided smile. "So, I'd say it suits you." 

Without a warning Luffy darts forward and Zoro can't react in time to avoid the tackle, bowling them both over and making them spin in the water. Luffy laughs brightly as Zoro's hands cling to his back, avoiding his dorsal spines and their wild spin slows down as they sink down towards the depths. 

"Just say you like it!" Luffy teases, Zoro's expression softening.

"I like it," he replies earnestly.

Luffy smiles, kissing him on the the bridge of his nose, Zoro flustered just long enough for Luffy to slip out of his grip and bolt away.

"Race you!" 

"Hey!" Zoro yells after him as Luffy gets his head-start. "That's cheating!" 

Cheating or not Zoro follows him anyway, catching up quick enough to grab Luffy's hand.

They swim, together.


End file.
